2022-23 Class AAA Basketball: Above Expectations

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>What teams are playing above expectations this year and why? And who is a player getting them there? We dive into that now!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Worthington (17-4). Worthington is one of the stories of the season. They had 17 losses last year and right now they have won 17 of 21 games! And the Trojans are doing this by locking up teams defensively by allowing only 57 points a game. Sophomore Jacari Swinea is the main playmaker and having a great year, Mikele Walu has come out of nowhere as a big surprise playing well, and senior Abagoote Opiew is living up to expectations. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Saint Anthony Village (14-8). Senior combo [player_tooltip player_id='962241' first='Nathan' last='Lucas'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1221178' first='Caydin' last='Hauser'] have been outstanding and at one point had their team in the top ten! Lucas has been solid (leading scorer at 18ppg), [player_tooltip player_id='1505462' first='Kenji' last='Asai'] has been good as a junior, and Hauser has taken a big step from last season averaging 14 a game. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Princeton (20-3). Princeton was the favorite in their section and in their conference but we never expected them to be pushing top five in Class AAA and being close to matching last year's record. Guys like [player_tooltip player_id='1800325' first='Aaron' last='Keykal'], [player_tooltip player_id='1223105' first='Graham' last='Peterson'] and Zach Andresen have played far above what most expected. And of course [player_tooltip player_id='962273' first='Cooper' last='Drews'] is playing at an all state level. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Little Falls (14-10). Little Falls has already won six more games than they did last year and they are doing it with a pretty small team but great guard play from junior [player_tooltip player_id='1617753' first='Jaxon' last='Janski'] and senior [player_tooltip player_id='1225628' first='Beau' last='Thoma']. Right now they are in that 4/5 seed area and one of the last things a one seed would want to see in round two. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>St. Paul Highland Park (13-6). Highland Park lost 19 games last season! But with balance and good team basketball they are a much improved team. Xavier May and [player_tooltip player_id='1436444' first='Andrew' last='Bacigalupi'] are returning all league players and they have been joined by [player_tooltip player_id='962283' first='Ishmael' last='Powell'] and Yared Yohannes in having quality seasons. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Duluth Denfeld (13-12). Denfeld was 0-9 in their league last season and 3-24 overall. A year later they have a winning record with a few games to go! A tremendous accomplishment and improvement for this program. [player_tooltip player_id='2104431' first='Marnaries' last='Ferguson'] is scoring 19 a game and having one of the best sophomore seasons out there while Aidan Newton, a junior, is also playing really well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->